Nickel Plating Cracking at Weld Joints, Steel

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We are a furniture manufacturer using a new plater that offers black nickel plating. We recently had a problem with some of the joints of our welded steel (1018) frames cracking at the joint. These items were copper plated prior to nickel plating, and the cracking appears to be only in the nickel-copper layer and grinding away the affected area indicated that the welds were still intact underneath. We had several parts done in this fashion, and only one of the pieces exhibited this problem.

David Scott
Product manufacturer - New York, New York

First of two simultaneous responses -- +++++++

It's only a guess, but I'll bet there was a hairline crack in the weld, small enough that it was smeared over by grinding.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
- Spartanburg, SC, USA

Second of two simultaneous responses -- +++++++

Hello David,
Because this was just one part that failed, I would suspect the welds were not properly sand or bead blasted (whichever process the new plater uses). Just a basic soak and electroclean are not enough to clean welds prior to plating.

Mark Baker
Process Engineer - Syracuse, New York